


In The Name of Science

by yespolkadot_kitty



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Asgard, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, I Don't Even Know, POV Darcy Lewis, Slow Burn, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-05-25 12:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6195079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yespolkadot_kitty/pseuds/yespolkadot_kitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy thinks it might be OK to indulge in some fun with an Asgardian - in the name of Science, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [concavepatterns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/concavepatterns/gifts).



> Please Miss, @concavepatterns made me do it. Her fic was so good and it started to give me ideas. I hope she will accept this humble offering as thanks for how very much I enjoyed Make Your Move.

It was Jane’s second trip to Asgard, and Darcy's first. Even so, even though Jane had been exposed to this ridiculous glittering, obscenely shiny world before, Darcy could hardly understand how Dr Foster kept her cool. How she walked past the highly opulent furnishings and detailed, CGI-tastic architecture. How she didn’t stop to smell every perfect flower on every beautifully sculpted path. How she didn’t just faint at how freaking Narnia—perfect every fucking detail was.

Then again, Darcy also didn’t understand how Jane didn’t spend every waking moment jumping Thor’s bones. Maybe it was just her, but Darcy would have been tapping that every chance she got. 

But that was Jane. Refined, science mad. If she and Darcy were both at a fancy restaurant for dinner, she’d order a stunning salad sprinkled with mangoes and beautifully prepared butterflied chicken, expertly flavoured with stardust or whatever. Darcy would choose to order the most wickedly decadent thing on the menu. And enjoy every bite. And maybe go back for seconds.

And yet despite these differences – and definitely despite Darcy's runaway mouth – she and Jane were inseparable best friends. She wouldn’t be without the good Doctor now. And Darcy was beside herself with bubbling excitement to be accompanying Jane on this freaking mind-blowing field trip, complete with full board.

A few days into this science trip, Darcy was pottering about on one of the Palace rooftops – who knew how many there were? – fiddling with some telescope attachment that she and Jane had been working on for months. Maybe years. They had tested it on Earth plenty of times, but neither Jane nor Darcy could pass up the chance to test all your equipment on another world. Some of the stuff went haywire, the sensors fracturing, letting out high pitched whining noises or cracking upon exposure to the Asgardian air. Others took to it like ducks to water. In this strange environment, Darcy practically squealed with excitement every time she had a chance to set up an experiment. 

As she fiddled with the dials on the telescope attachment, peering up through the eyepiece, Thor stood with Jane by the stone balustrade. They looked a picture, Thor pointing out constellations in his deep baritone, his arm around the petite scientist, their heads close together.

If anyone had ever wondered what the inspiration behind Hallmark was, Darcy was looking right at it. They were all soft sighs, googly eyes, hand-holding. They practically had little bluebirds and floating hearts circling around their heads. 

Darcy was thrilled for Jane. Really. She had waited long enough for this. For happiness, for adventure, for something other than living in that poky trailer, eating only granola bars and drinking Gatorade – when she remembered to eat or drink at all, that was.

“Sickening, isn’t it.”

Darcy's head came up so fast that she narrowly avoided clipping it on the telescope. “Jesus," she groused. "Warn a girl first, would ya?”

More carefully this time, she turned, unsurprised to see that the origin of the voice was Loki, Thor’s brother. As dark and lithe as Thor was golden and built, he stood, half in shadow, underneath one of the many Palace balconies. Darcy had seen him around a few times, his face of plane and angles unwillingly drawing her interest. If Thor was a gourmet beef burger then Loki was a sliver of 28-day aged fillet steak. He possessed a rare, hard beauty that reminded Darcy of a panther in the shadows. All coiled power, held lazily in check, to be released at any time, keeping its prey constantly on guard.

“Where,” he drawled, “Would be the fun in that?”

His silky tone made her mouth water. Down girl, she chastised herself silently.

She would bet her bottom dollar that he knew how to have fun. All kinds.

Especially the horizontal kind. If her brain were a movie right now, it would be R rated. Possibly even banned. The book of the film would be sold in plain brown paper so as to avoid scandal.

“Do you mind? I’m busy doing science,” Darcy heard herself say, making her tone more annoyed than she felt. “On the strangest field trip of my freaking life.”

She barely heard the fall of his boot soles as he moved towards her. “Asgard pleases you?”

“That’s the understatement of the year.” She made herself turn back to the eyepiece, and pressed her free hand to her heart to stop it hammering. “This place was made to please. Better than if you made an entire palace out of Reese’s Pieces, filled it with oiled male strippers and gave me unlimited free entry and calorie free wine.” She paused, aware that you’d started babbling.

Loki looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. “You are a constant source of puzzlement, Darcy Lewis of Midgard.”

“Yeah well, your face is a constant source of puzzlement,” she replied automatically, never accustomed to not having the last word in any conversation. She immediately cringed. She'd be on to “your mama” jokes next if she wasn't careful. She re-doubled her efforts into the telescope, but he didn’t move. He stood so close. She could feel the heat coming off his body and it made her tingle with awareness every-fucking-where. Right down to her toes.

“I think you misunderstand,” he said softly.

Darcy glanced over at Jane and Thor. They were still a good few feet away, wrapped up in each other, like a couple of Care Bears riding on sunbeams. Thor would be Lionheart, obviously, she thought. They’d be no help in rescuing her from Loki’s attentions. And… Besides, she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to be rescued. Against her better judgement , she was ... curious.

“I like puzzles,” he added. The sexual undertone to his words was impossible to miss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Darcy fears mind-reading.
> 
> \----  
> Sorry to anyone who came here looking for one thing and got another. Not my intention; this has been clumsily mislabelled by me. I've fixed it now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All mistakes regarding Asgard or characters thereof are mine and mine alone. Enjoy!

Darcy felt sure she'd misheard. But she didn't dare to ask him to repeat himself. No. He definitely hadn't sounded that overtly sexual. Had he?

 

She worried that she might be losing it. It was a genuine concern. She never thought her feet would touch an alien planet, after all. Let alone think she'd ever be chatting to a bonafide God. It was enough to shake anyone.

 

"May I look through your telescope?" Loki asked.

 

"Um.. sure. Why not." Darcy stepped aside, grateful to be a few steps away from him. She stared up at the Asgardian Sky, blue-black, sprinkled with a hundred thousand pinpricks of light, each as dazzling as a diamond. CGI had nothing on Asgard. Everywhere she looked it was so beautiful that it almost hurt her eyes. She wanted sunglasses - did such a thing exist here?

 

Something else that hurt her eyes was Loki in that practically skintight armour. She allowed herself to peek quickly back at him, bent slightly, focused on the task at hand. His inky hair spilled down just past the nape of his neck, obsidian, looking touchable as silk.

 

She fiddled with some measuring instruments on a nearby ocassional table. There was only one thing she wanted to measure right now, but he was clothed. She told herself to calm the _fuck_ down.

 

"Don't you have somewhere to _be?_ " She asked Thor's brother. "You know.... making mischief or something? Or whatever it is you do? Riding around on clouds? Giving orders? Building another balcony on this Palace of Wonder? Auditioning to be a Disney villain?"

 

Loki straightened. The blue-green of his eyes was arresting. "'Tis Thor's name day tomorrow," he answered. "So I must stay at Asgard for the feast. However, do not labour under the assumption that I couldn't make a perfectly satisfying amount of mischief right here." His gaze held hers for a hot second. "Were I to have the right accomplice."

 

She swallowed and desperately hoped for something to interrupt.

 

Some _one_ did, thankfully. "Darce?"

 

Darcy looked over at the sound of Jane's voice. Thank the Lord. "Yeah?"

 

"I know it's late, but I'd like to collect some flower specimens from the gardens. Thor says that at this time in the evening, some of the petals light up and give off the most wonderful scent. Could you come with me, bring some jars?"

She was extremely grateful for the distraction from Dr Foster, and hopped to it. Loki didn't say anything as she left, but Darcy felt his gaze on her back as she walked away. Man. She was toast.

* * *

 

"Is that the first  time you've met Thor's brother properly?" Jane asked as they walked together through the Palace Garden. Thor had been right. Beautiful plumes of scent filled the air. Flower petals glowed like fireflies in the fresh evening air. It was like walking on to the set of the most glorious Disney movie she had ever seen.

"Yeah, I guess," Darcy replied, unwilling to give any detailed answers. She was already looking forward to some alone time in her room so she could have a very private fantasy. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. "Jane?"

"Hmmm?" Jane crouched down to gather a few sunshine yellow petals into a jar. The petals flashed blue and green when touched. They smelled like chocolate.

"Can Asgardians.... Can they read human minds? Do you think?"

Jane didn't seem troubled by her assistant's question. "I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. Why do you ask?"

 _Thank God,_ she thought to herself. "Just wondering. You know. It would sure be embarrassing for everyone to know what I was thinking. Like, how much I love pizza, and how much I miss reality TV," she babbled.

"Uh huh." Jane looked at her friend, her eyes narrowed slightly, and Darcy remembered that she was, of course, super smart. However, she decided to leave the younger woman be, and continued gathering specimens. For her part, Darcy was only too happy to help the Doctor. Now and then she glanced back up towards the balcony, but was unable to see any movement there from either of the brothers.

"I can ask Thor about the mind reading thing if you want?" Jane offered.

 

"No! I mean, no that's fine," Darcy replied quickly. Jane gave her that searching look again, but Darcy pretended to be deeply intrigued by a plant nearby.

 

* * *

Much later, Darcy was on her way to the bedchamber that she had been assigned. It was a plush room with a huge crescent shaped window. A window seat had been built into the window ledge, an inviting place to read and daydream. The bed was covered in silks and huge, flumpy pillows, and her bare feet sank into the carpet.

She was almost there, her mind wandering to Loki and his very suggestive comment earlier. She was only human and couldn't resist thinking about what he would be like between the sheets. How he would kiss her. What his skin would feel like under her exploring hands. How it might feel to have him mark her as his own, in the places no one else could see.

No! She snapped herself out of it with a mental palm to the face. She was still scared that Asgardians everywhere, _especially_ Loki, would be able to read her mind at all. "Must think like a nun. Must think like a nun," she muttered to hersself as she reached the hallway through which her room was located.

She'd just pretend to be Maria from _The Sound of Music._ Yep. She would be so innocent, evil doers would want to bathe in her blood. She'd even give Whoopi Goldberg a run for her money in _Sister Act._ She made up her mind to save up all her dirty fantasies up for when she got back to Earth.

"Think like a nun, think like a nun," she muttered again under her breath, almost to the safety of her room. She was going to have some Asgardian tea before bed, then change into her favourite Spongebob jammies-

"What," called a voice behind her, "In the Nine Realms is a nun?"

Darcy stopped dead in her tracks. _Shit._

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cornered in the hallway.

Darcy glanced at the door to her room, and safety. She swallowed, and turned around.

No man had the right to look that good. But then again, Loki was no man, was he?

"You know," she said slowly, playing for time. "The whole closer-to-God deal. Long cloaky clothing. Praying a lot. No... sex." She hesitated before saying the last word, then sort of snapped it out.

Loki stepped closer. His eyes were dark as he looked down at her. She got the distinct impression she was being sized up, as a tiger might weigh up its preys chances of staying or fleeing.

"And you need to think like one of these "nuns" because..."

He wasn't an idiot, Darcy thought. He knew all too well why she wanted to think like a nun. "If you can't figure that out then maybe Asgardians aren't all that smart after all," she rushed out lamely. It wasn't one of her best comebacks. In fact it was terrible. She was nervous. The little mice of fear and desire skittered in tandem down her spine. 

"Oh, I can figure it out _myself_  perfectly well, Darcy of Midgard. But that's not why I asked. I want to hear it from your lips."

 _No,_ Darcy told herself.  _No diddling with the boys on Asgard. No matter how hot they are._

The last time she'd let herself tumble head over heels for someone, it had all ended in public declarations of love on karaoke night, buckets of lonely tears, and two family-sized tubs of Ben and Jerry's finest. She'd felt that break up on her thighs for months afterwards.

She willed herself to think of her exercise bike back on Earth, and breathed in.

"Well, you're gonna have a very long wait. Epic. Like, as long as the dinosaurs were on Earth. As long as it takes twinkies to go bad." She winced inwardly but lifted her chin, trying for bravado. "My point is, not gonna happen."

Loki's expression was unreadable as he slowly lifted a hand and gently pushed a coil of hair back from her face. She felt his touch like a hot brand. "You have thought about the possibility, though, Darcy Lewis." His words were so soft that they barely carried to her ears. "Thought about what we might accomplish together. What we could be to each other."

 _Oh my God,_ she thought, miserable.  _Maybe he can read my mind._

He dropped his hand from her face and she could just about breathe again. She pressed her lips together to stop from saying something she might regret. Her mind scrambled to think of a lie, but at this point she felt as if lying - especially to him - would be futile. Even if he couldn't read her thoughts, Jane had always said that Darcy was an open book. Whatever she felt would probably be scrawled all over her face for him to see as plainly as if she'd written on her skin with a sharpie.

"Too tired to be seduced tonight," she said, trying for flippant. To her credit, the words didn't tremble off her lips. Give the girl a Golden Globe. "See you at the feast tomorrow, I guess."

He said nothing as she backed away towards her room, but the hot darkness in his eyes added a pile of fuel to the already raging bonfire of her imagination.

Even after she touched herself to the searing memory of his arresting gaze and all its carnal promise, sleep was a very, very long time coming.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An admission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all for your patience! Hope you continue to enjoy this slow-burn story.

Considering it was Darcy's first time at a name-day feast, she thought she was being restrained. She took only  _two_ of everything, rather than everything of everything, as she wanted.

She snuck a glance at Jane, sitting next to Thor, beaming. Once again, Darcy didn't know if anyone  _else_ could see the tiny bluebirds twittering around their heads, but Darcy sure as hell could. There were also rainbows coming out of Thor's ears.

It was terribly sweet, if a little like eating a whole bag of candy at once.

And Jane was doing that reserved-dainty-lady thing she did so well. Eating very daintily, like she could spend a whole day over one plate of food. Thor helped her, insisting on cutting her food into tiny bite-sized morsels. She didn't seem to mind.

Darcy ate more like a  _real_ person. She prided herself on not being a total pig, but why only eat tiny bites of a thing when she could have a mouthful?  _Especially_ when there was absolutely no shortage of this amazing food on offer. It was all shapes, all sizes, all colours. And most of it - except that weird round spiky thing which made her tongue green, she didn't want to eat that ever again - was pure ambrosia.

"I like the way you eat," a silky voice said from her left.

 _Christ._ Loki had snuck up on her. Darcy swallowed. His seat had been empty for the last hour, and she'd thought, with a mixture of relief and disappointment, that he had either been seated elsewhere or called away, unable to attend.

She had been wrong, and it occurred to her that she actually didn't  _mind_ being wrong this time.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, daring him to say something offensive about her chewing, or worse, that she had something in her teeth.  _Lord._

"It makes me think that you might conduct yourself with equal enthusiasm in all things," he added, his gaze holding hers.

Darcy was torn between crawling into his lap to show him that he was, infact, correct, and running away as fast as she could.

Of course, running was probably out, since her enthusiasm for food meant she would be, for the next hour at least, a bag of meat and vegetables. She wasn't exactly sure she  _could_ move, even if she wanted to.

Eating all that Asgard could offer suddenly seemed like a really bad idea.  _Good job, Darce,_ she sassed herself.

"Yeah, well.... Wouldn't you like to know," she retorted, and then winced internally. She always thought of good comebacks hours after she needed them.  _Thanks, brain._

It was the wrong thing to say. Loki's eyes darkened, and he leaned in to her. In the hustle and noise of the feast, his words were heard only by her. "I would. Very much indeed."

"Well, you're not gonna." she dipped her spoon into a pot of some amazing purple sauce and licked it off. "Too bad. Must be lots of female Asgardians around here that you could.. you know. Whatever you guys call.. _that."_

"I see." Loki shifted in his seat, his graceful hands picking through the assortment of treats on their section of the table. "You wish to be seduced. Midgardians are not all that different from the maidens here. You were too tired to be wooed last night. And perhaps the feast tonight will have tired you, as well. So, tomorrow is when I will begin my... campaign."

Darcy pressed her legs together. He said the word _campaign_ as if he'd meant to say   _seduction by moonlight, with no clothes._ She swallowed and dared to meet his gaze. The heat she saw snapping there made the muscles in her lower belly quiver. And it made other muscles sit up and beg.

"After all," he continued in that silky tone. "Before long, you will return to Midgard. And I shall.... remain here."

"That's true, I guess," she agreed, mainly just saying words to stop her brain doing fantasy-star jumps from the look on his face.

"So, what could be the harm? Are you not curious about the pleasure I could afford you?" He leaned closer, until his breath gently caressed the sensitive shell of her ear. "Tell me you are not, and I shall turn and leave this moment, and this will never be spoken of again. I swear it."

He had little to no honour to swear on, Darcy thought, but the tickle of his breath and the simmer in his eyes and the  _ridiculous hotness_ of him was too much, and the truth came to the fore. 

"I'm really curious," she whispered back. 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An opening gambit.

Darcy dreamed of twinkies. Piles of them; more than she could ever eat. Of chocolate and other sweet treats, so many that she could hardly see through the walls of them.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the source of the saccharine dream.

Her room was filled wall to wall with flowers. She had never seen the like before. Tall ones. Short ones. Bright ones and subtle ones. Never had she seen so much beauty in a single space. She felt as if she'd woken up in a rainforest. She blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes and opened them again - the flowers remained.

She sat in her bed in Asgard, in her pyjamas, a gorgeous spray of flowers blooming around her.

And she thought: perhaps this "being romanced by a God" thing ain't so bad.

A note in loopy masculine writing was pinned to the door, and she padded over on bare feet - winding through potted flowers and other blooms - to read it.

**_Darcy of Midgard. I assumed that Midgardian females had a fondness for flowers. Unsure of what you liked, I thought it only logical to obtain one of each kind currently growing on Asgard._ **

**_Loki_ **

She read the note twice and snorted. Of course he had thought flowers "logical." What else.

As she looked around the room, though, the laughter caught in her throat. He had to have done this overnight. "Son of a bitch!" she groaned. He'd been in here whilst she was asleep. That was... weird? Although oddly, she didn't mind as much as she initially thought. She was sleeping. He could have done _literally_ anything to her - she did sleep like the dead, after all. She'd never have known.

And yet all he had done was fill her room with flowers. He hadn't even drawn a permanent marker moustache on her face.

A soft pang clutched at her heart, but she immediately shut it down. If she was going to enjoy a fling with the Asgardian Prince, she needed to  _not_ involve feelings. She might as well take a long walk off a short cliff.

To distract herself, she got dressed, taking time over it. She didn't even bother to pretend that the effort was for Jane or anyone else. Loki had filled her room with freakin' hothouse flowers - more than anyone else had done for a very long time. OK, so Daniel Fitzgerald had sneaked her an ice cream when she'd been grounded, but-

She indulged herself by taking a few videos on her phone of the array of flowers. Should she open a window or something? Had they been watered....

A soft knock at the door made her jump and she tried to stuff her phone in her pocket, but she couldn't find any in the weird floaty robe thing she'd been given to wear. It was a new look for her, but not a terrible one, she thought. Perhaps hipster was the new black - or Asgardian Hipster anyway. It sounded like the coolest band she'd never heard of. Perhaps she'd start it when she got back to Earth, she thought vaguely. Shame she wouldn't have Loki on guitar-

The knock sounded again and she pressed her palm to the plate by the door to open it. 

Jane stood in the doorway. "Hey, Darce. I - oh my God! Are these what I think they are?"

"Unless I somehow grew these in my sleep, I guess they are! Aren't they amazeballs?"

"They're definitely something," Jane agreed, looking at home in the floaty robe things. "I'm guessing they're from Loki? He was looking at you as if you were a cream puff at the banquet."

Darcy's knees melted a bit and she tried to stand straight. "I'm sure he's had plenty of cream puffs. And other kinds of puffs," she tried to add flippantly.

Jane frowned. She looked like a cute puppy when her brow furrowed. "I don't know. Thor said he's never seen his brother look at an Asgardian  _quite_ like that, let alone a Midgardian woman."

The good doctor's words gave Darcy pause, but like a good modern adult she buried it deep. "Whatever. Let's have breakfast, shall we?"

As she closed the door on the spectacular carpet of flowers, each a microcosm of Asgardian beauty, she half anticipated, half dreaded, any continuation of Loki's "campaign." 

If this was his _opening_ gambit, she had about as much hope of surviving it as a Bothan in Star Wars. She might as well surrender right now.

As she and Jane turned the corner, a familliar figure waited in the archway connecting the corridor to the Great Hall. And Darcy's heart resumed its normal position around him, lodged right into her panties.

_Crap._

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giving in to curiosity.

"Morning, Loki," Jane called out as they approached him.

He leaned against the wall lazily, back against the stone, one leg crossed very slightly over another, his arms folded. His eyes seemed impossibly dark and deep in the architectural darkness of the corridor. Darcy could dive into those eyes and never surface, drowning happy.

The hint of a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth, and she thought:  _Oh, man. You look like such bad news. And I have to have you._

"Good morning," he drawled. "I trust you both slept well."

Darcy recovered enough of her wits to say, "About as well as someone who's being surrounded by flowers while they're asleep. I'm not a petri dish. You can't just... grow things.... around me."

OK, so that hadn't gone very well at all. She could feel Jane giving her the serious side eye.

Not least because one grew things  _on_ a petri dish, not around it. Oh _boy_.

"Forgive me." Loki straightened slightly and uncrossed his legs. "I wished for you to wake among a bed of flowers, and that would have proved difficult were you awake and witnessing the transfer of the blooms. It took some time."

Darcy swallowed, feeling off kilter. "Look-"

"I'm going down to breakfast," Jane said brightly. "See you later, OK, Darce?"

"Sure," Darcy mumbled, watching as Jane hurried off down the corridor, probably to feed Thor magical oats on a wooden spoon carved in the shape of a heart, whilst tiny birds outside spelled out their names in the sky. "I'm sorry," she added, meeting Loki's calm gaze. "The flowers are gorgeous. I mean, crazy gorgeous. But us Earth gals feel weird about people being in our rooms when we're asleep. It's a bit... serial killer."

His brow arched. "I understand that I crossed a boundary line. But..."

"What?" She had a feeling that she wouldn't like this. Or she'd like it too much.

"How do Midgardian females feel about someone in their rooms who has been invited?"

Oh yeah. She was toast. She felt her feet unconsciously bring her a tiny step closer. It was as if she was pulled by slow increments into his orbit, Io helpessly circling Jupiter, unable and unwilling to break free. Everything about him dragged her closer, made her curious. Made her  _want._

For Science, Darcy told herself. It was all research, wasn't it? Scientists got curious about things, and they studied them. Not lust.  _Research._ And she wouldn't get another chance to carry out this research after she left Asgard.

God bless science.

"If you've been invited to the party," she said slowly, "Then I guess it's okay to dance."

His brow furrowed briefly. "Your turn of phrase is fascinating. And odd."

"That's pretty much me in a nutshell." Her gaze fell to his mouth. He had pretty darned clever words. She wondered if his kisses would be just as intoxicating, just as perplexing.

"It isn't just your turn of phrase that I find fascinating, Darcy of Midgard," he said softly. His words barely carried to her, although they stood so close. "In all my years, never has someone .... intrigued me so."

Darcy felt as if every nerve in her body stood on end as Loki uncrossed his arms and lifted a hand to tease a lock of her hair away from her face, rubbing it gently between his finger and thumb. 

They stood together like that for a moment that seemed to stretch, their only connection his hand on a few small strands of her hair.

"And do you think I shall be?" Loki suddenly asked, his gaze meeting hers. Invisible electricity seemed to spark between them. 

"Shall be what?"

"Invited to your ... party." The words fell off his tongue silkily. He might as well have been reciting Shakespeare. Although with that voice, he could read the damn telephone directory, and it would be audio sex.

"Hell yes," she said without thinking. "There'll be party hats, those little pineapple bits you get on sticks, Twister, hide and seek-"

"No hiding," he interrupted. "And definitely nothing on sticks. Just.. this." And he fisted his hand in her hair, drew her close, and slanted his mouth over hers.

Stars exploded behind Darcy's eyes as he kissed her. It started as just a simple ghosting of his lips over hers. So gentle she almost worried she dreamed it (like that time she dreamed a huge sale at Macy's - what a drag to wake up!). He tasted of something slightly exotic, reminding her of allspice and cloves. He applied slight pressure on her lips and she parted for him. At the first touch of his tongue on hers, she thought she would hit the ceiling. Every cell in her body sat up and begged. She felt more alive than, perhaps, she ever had. Including all the times she'd been on rollercoasters. 

She vaguely registered his other hand sliding up her neck and cupping the back of her head. He held her completely captive; in thrall, and she gave herself up willingly.

This was some of the best damn research she'd ever conducted.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much everyone for reading this!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planning a clandestine meeting after hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this has been so long coming. I had a baby (!) who is now 4 months old, so I'm only just snatching time to to write in between nappies. SO MANY NAPPIES.
> 
> Thanks in advance for reading this! I promise the next update will involve many sexytimes.

_Oh, man._  Loki sure could kiss. If this was kissing, Darcy thought, then she'd never done it before. Or, at least, not properly. No one had ever made her feel like she was melting from the inside.

 

She slid her arms around his neck and let herself be plundered. His faintly exotic flavour flooded her senses. When he gently nipped at her bottom lip, she arched into him, captivated.

 

Abruptly he pulled back and Darcy blinked. "Wha-you stopped."

 

He held her gaze, his expression intense. "As unsure as I am of Midgardian ways, I assume that a corridor is not the correct place for... this."

 

"Of course not." Jesus, they were behaving like horny teenages. Which was exactly how she felt. "I, uh..."

 

Anyone could have come along, and actually, she didn't think she would have cared. She felt three sheets to the wind, drunk from his kisses.

 

"I was so hungry that I let you get the better of me," she blurted out. Smooth, Lewis. She could cringe. "Besides," she added, more convincingly, "You can't win the war after one battle. I want to see what else your campaign has in store, other than entire florist shops."

 

Loki studied her for a moment. If he was disappointed that she wasn't going to put out right there and then, he didn't show it at all. "Meet me on the terrace overlooking the gardens, after the sundown meal. We'll go stargazing, perhaps."

 

Terrace? It wasn't what she thought he'd say. "Er... should I bring anything?"

 

He smiled slowly. It was slightly predatory and she shivered; but in anticipation, not fear. "Only an open mind."

 

_Holy crap!_  Darcy swallowed. "What are we going to do?"

 

He let his hand drop from her hair, and until then she hadn't realised just how much she'd liked it. "I thought we could partake of some stargazing. And then, perhaps, your Midgardian.... party."

 

"It's a date," she managed. "I'll be there with bells on."

 

He gave her a strange look. "No bells will be necessary." And just as she was about to _whoosh_  out a breath of _OMG WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING,_  he yanked her to him for a quick, fiery kiss that sent her head - and some other places - into overdrive.

 

Darcy watched him stalk down the corridor and wondered at what point her life had become just so insane. 

 

*****

 

"Shit or get off the pot, Darce," she muttered to herself later that afternoon, whilst getting ready for the evening meal. Usually a grand affair, it typically consisted of at least three courses and then some sort of entertainment.

 

She stared at the bed. Generally a jeans and jumper kind of girl - or a t-shirt with a snarky slogan on, those were for special days - Darcy didn't possess many knock 'em dead dresses. She'd brought one to Asgard with her just incase, on the off chance she and Jane might have to do to something swanky, and it looked up at her now, a knee-length berry red dress with long lace sleeves. Really, the dress itself was rather demure, but the way it clung to her curves was absolutely not.

 

Too much?

 

"For God's sake, you're on another planet, about to go to a fancy dinner, and then possibly get boned by an alien God... nothing is too much for that situation," she groused. "There is literally no dress code for that situation!"

 

She put the dress on.

 

Walking into the huge Asgardian dining room, she met Loki's gaze. When fire lit in his dark eyes, she knew she had made the right choice.

 

Jane intercepted her with some story about how Thor had helped her grow a new kind of plant by splicing two together. Darcy let herself be led to a seat next to her friend, and did her best to listen, but whenever she looked at Loki, his gaze was fixed on her. She was surprised the intensity in his face didn't melt her to the ground right there and then.

 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (even longer than waiting in line at the DMV), she saw Loki get up from his seat across the room.

 

"Are you okay?" Jane asked. "You've been sort of distant. You look great in that dress, though."

 

It was a challenge for Darcy not to yell HOW DO YOU JUST HAVE SEX WITH A GOD? WHO _DOES_  THAT?

 

Because Jane had done that. But Darcy got the sense that Thor was a completely different kettle of fish - or the Asgardian equivalent of kettles and fishes - to Loki. Thor would be chocolate marshmallow. Loki would be that piece of fudge cake that you know you shouldn't have, but can't resist.

 

"I'm fine," she managed to say. "Just tired. I might go for a walk in the gardens before bed. Smell the roses, you know. whilst I'm here."

 

Jane gave her an arch look. "Uh huh. Just make sure they don't have too many thorns."

 

_Ugh, lamest excuse ever,_  Darcy thought as she headed for the terrace. Telling Jane she wanted to go for _a walk_  after wearing what was probably the only "fuck me" dress she owned? Lame.

 

But her embarassment faded away as she climbed the short stack of stone steps to the terrace. Night had enveloped Asgard, but scones on the palace walls burned brightly. The balustrade came into her view first, then the headily scented, trailing plants along it. A large telescope, gilded, stood in the centre of the projected terrace. She reached the top, and then Loki stepped out of the darkness provided by the palace wall.

 

"Holy-" she snuffed out a gasp. "Can you turn off stealth mode, please?"

 

Although stealthy was exactly what they'd both need to be if they were going to party like Darcy had in mind. Loki certainly looked the part. He'd pulled his hair back into a short queue, and the light from the wall scones kissed the planes and angles of his face. His eyes were very dark.

 

"And which mode would you prefer, Darcy of Midgard?" 

 

She stepped towards him. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of pre-sexy times stargazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news: I haven't drowned in nappies, although it's been close.
> 
> Bad news: this update is only half what I'd hoped to post.
> 
> If you're still reading, THANK YOU!

They looked at each other for a long moment, and Darcy felt all her prior bravado fade away. What did she do now? Where was the life guide for this situation? She felt a bit like a little girl in her mom's clothes.

 

But there was nothing girlish about what she hoped Loki was going to do to her in the semi-darkness of this terrace.

 

She swallowed. "Uh.... I guess.... stargazing on the terrace mode."

 

If she had a gun she'd have shot herself for being so lame.

 

A slight smile tugged at the corner of his gorgeous mouth. "As you wish." 

 

It wasn't what she wished. But GOD! How did she say "you sort of insinuated that we were gonna bone each other but you're actually an alien prince and I don't know how to ask for it" ???

 

Loki held his hand out and she put her fingers on his palm. He covered her hand with his other one for a moment, and just that contact made her every thought shoot right down her body, to rest between her legs.  _Down girl,_  she thought to herself.

 

She let him lead her over to the telescope. It was beautiful - like every freakin' thing else here on Asgard - gilded, with intricate engraving along the main tube. The tripod stand even had clawed feet. She wondered idly how much it would fetch at Sotheby's. No one would believe it was real.

 

"I trained the lens on some of our most beautiful constellations." Releasing her hand, Loki positioned her before the eyepiece. 

 

Darcy fought disappointment. Oh, they were  _actually_  going to stargaze. She had briefly wondered if it was some sort of euphemism here. 

 

Her disappointment quickly dissipated as she looked through the lens of the telescope.

 

Pinpricks of iridescent light danced in the telescope's circle of vision, glittering like the finest jewels on the inky backdrop of the Asgardian night sky. As she drank it all, trying to imprint on her memory the shape of the constellations and the ridiculous magic of  _just being here,_  Loki put his mouth to her ear and described the names of the stars she was seeing. He was warm against her back, the ends of his tied back hair tickling the nape of her neck.

 

It was the best damn date she'd ever had, as well as one of the sexiest, and he had hardly touched her.

 

When Loki finally stopped speaking, she had no idea how much time had passed. She'd let herself drift on the soothing cadence of his voice as he described the stars and their mythology to her. It was a side of him she'd never expected to see, and one that she guessed came out to play very rarely.

 

"I hadn't meant to go on so." He looked uncharacteristically ruffled, Darcy thought as he straightened up. "You.... are easy to talk to, Darcy Lewis of Midgard."

 

She felt herself smile. "Don't you like that?"

 

He met her gaze and held it. "There are a great many things about you that I like, Darcy Lewis."

 

The stargazing had made some of her fear melt away, and Darcy looked at him with somewhat new eyes. He was just a person (well, actually, he was an alien Prince on a sort of planet floating in space). But out here, away from all the banqueting and wonder of the palace, he was just.... Loki. 

 

"Come closer and say that," she teased. It came out squeakier than she'd intended, but there. She'd said it.

 

He moved imperceptibly closer, and she sucked in a breath as he cupped her face with one hand. The temptation to close her eyes was huge, but Darcy knew she might never experience this again - who had, after all?! - and she wanted to drink in every minute. She searched his handsome face, the gentle light from the palace wall sconces kissing a bone structure that would've made an artist cry.

 

When he moved in to kiss her, she finally let her eyes drift closed.

 

Unlike the earlier fiery kiss which had sent a message directly downstairs, he started with butterfly kisses, his lips ghosting over hers, again and again, until she thought she'd pass out from the pleasure of it. She had a moment to wonder if they looked like one of those corny couples on fantasy romance novel covers - THE ALIEN PRINCE AND HIS CAPTIVE BRIDE or somesuch, and then Loki stated to get serious and all the thoughts just fell out of her head.

 

She let herself drown in the feel of his mouth on hers. When he deepened the kiss, his tongue dancing with hers, Darcy slid her arms around his neck, as much to just  _hold on for the ride_  as to be closer to him. 

 

He nipped at her bottom lip. "I could become well accustomed to the taste of you, Darcy Lewis."

 

"Just Darcy. Pretty sure we're past formalities now. Don't you think?"

 

"Would you care to shed more layers?"

 

_Hells to the yeah._  She barely restrained herself from saying it out loud. "Here? On the terrace?"

 

He seemed confused for a moment, but acquiesced. "If you wish to go somewhere more private, I understand, however, no one would disturb us."

 

"Oh. Don't come a knockin' if the terrace is rockin'?"

 

She hoped the ground would swallow her up after that comment, but to her surprise, Loki laughed.  "You are a continual delight. Very well, Darcy - just Darcy. How the night continues is, as they say on Midgard, your call."

 


End file.
